The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu), directed by Tatsuya Ishihara, follows the high school life of Haruhi Suzumiya, a young and very eccentric high school girl and her SOS Brigade. Although Haruhi is the central character, the story is told from Kyon's point of view. In the SOS Brigade, Haruhi managed to gather together Kyon, Yuki Nagato (an alien), Mikuru Asahina (a time traveler), and Itsuki Koizumi (an esper), respectively. Nagato, Asahina, and Koizumi are supernatural beings sent on a mission to watch over Haruhi to keep her from destroying the world and creating a new one by accident.

Contents

The anime appears to be set in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, Japan, although the city is never actually named in the series. The manga instead states the series takes place in Kobe, a nearby larger city. North High School, where Kyon, Haruhi, and the rest of the SOS Brigade members attend, is the real life location of Nishinomiya Kita High School. The Kitaguchi Station seen in the anime is actually the Hankyu Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station, and the Kōyōen Station (光陽園駅), is named after the real Hankyu Kōyōen Station (甲陽園駅). Uegahara Pirates (上ヶ原パイレーツ) of the Kwansei Gakuin University is also based on a real team.Click here for a list of Haruhi Suzumiya places

Originally, the first season was aired out of order, though the list above has the episodes listed in chronological order. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episodes were aired in order with the other episodes randomly placed in between them, the final episode of the original broadcast being The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya VI. During the previews for the “next episode”, two different numbers for the following episode were given: one number from Haruhi, who numbered the next episode according to where they actually fit chronologically in the plot, and one number from Kyon, who numbered the episodes in the order in which they aired. The sole exception is episode twelve, which is both the twelfth episode aired and the twelfth episode chronologically, a fact Kyon mentions in the preview. The DVD release of the anime had The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00 as the first episode and then featured the remaining episodes in chronological order.

The second season was not broadcasted until 2009 combining previous episodes with new episodes as a single season, and has the episodes arranged in chronological order. The second season proved controversial with the handling of the "Endless Eight" arc. The development leading up to the decisions is highly speculated. Speculation seems to point to the desire to bridge the three year gap to bring back fan enthusiasm for the movie, make a unique approach to storytelling that was never done before, and have enough material to cover a full season.[1][2] Whatever the decisions were, the end result is the animation of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya as its own movie and filling in the necessary story behind it as part of the second season, including the decision to combine both seasons as a single season and Endless Eight. Regardless, the decision produced enough fan backlash to cast doubts on a third season.

The first day of high school. Kyon meets Haruhi after she introduces herself as having no interest in ordinary humans. After trying to talk to Haruhi, Kyon is the first one to get a response from her. This leads to Haruhi forming the SOS Brigade.

Haruhi starts the SOS Brigade with four members: Kyon, Yuki Nagato, Mikuru Asahina, and herself. Haruhi begins to improve the club room's appearance, but still feels that it is missing something—a computer. Going next door to the Computer Society's clubroom, Haruhi manages to obtain a computer through forcing the leader to grab Mikuru's breast and takes pictures saying if they do not give her a computer she will tell everyone they sexually harassed her friend. She enlists the help of Mikuru to help promote the SOS Brigade by dressing up as a bunny girl and handing out fliers. Later, Yuki invites Kyon to her apartment, where she begins to unveil a secret about Haruhi and herself.

Yuki completes her explanation of the Data Integration Thought Entity and how it relates to herself and to Haruhi. Furthermore, she discusses Haruhi's powers, and how she could destroy and recreate the world on a whim. Kyon, while simply trying to understand all of what Yuki had told him, is initially skeptical of her story. The SOS Brigade gets a new member — a mysterious transfer student by the name of Itsuki Koizumi. On a day off from school, the SOS Brigade searches the city in groups to try to investigate mysteries, during which Mikuru reveals to Kyon the existence of time-travelers. Kyon later confronts Itsuki, revealed to be an esper, and learns of the 'Organization'.

Haruhi is visibly bored and is not her usual energetic self. Ryōko Asakura, the class president, is concerned and asks Kyon to help her. Kyon later finds a mysterious letter in his locker, which directs to come to a classroom, where Ryōko confronts him. Revealed to also be an alien, Ryōko attempts to kill Kyon in order to provoke a reaction from Haruhi, but is stopped by Yuki. Later, Kyon meets Mikuru's older self that had traveled from the future, who reveals a clue essential to his future: Snow White.

Haruhi enlists the help of Kyon to attempt to investigate what happened to Ryōko, as Haruhi believes it strange that she would transfer without notice. After a fruitless search, Haruhi tells Kyon about her earlier years, and how she changed from an ordinary girl into her present state. Later that day, Itsuki tells Kyon his organization's theories about Haruhi, and shows him some of his powers within closed space.

Haruhi becomes frustrated and jealous of Mikuru's friendly relationship with Kyon. One night, Haruhi's power is activated without her knowing, and both she and Kyon become trapped in a closed space at their school. Before long, a blue giant appears and begins to destroy the school and the surrounding area. As more appear, Kyon and Haruhi evacuate the school. Kyon uses hints, provided by Yuki and Mikuru beforehand, to defuse the situation and escape. In the end, he expresses his desire to return to the old world and kisses Haruhi, which brings the two back to the "old world". It remains unknown if the world that Kyon returns to is really the previous world, or if it is the new world that Haruhi created during their time inside closed space, though Yuki, Mikuru, and Itsuki are all glad to see Kyon again.

Haruhi has once again become bored. In an effort to alleviate some of this stagnation, Haruhi enters the SOS Brigade into a baseball tournament. Due to a lack of players, Tsuruya, Taniguchi, Kunikida, and Kyon's sister are recruited into the team. However, the team is hopelessly inept, and if they lose, Haruhi might destroy the world. To remedy the situation, Yuki uses her powers to alter the course of the game.

On Tanabata, July 7, Kyon and Mikuru travel back in time on a mission to the Tanabata of three years before. The future Mikuru puts her younger self to sleep and tells Kyon to help a certain person. Carrying the sleeping Mikuru, Kyon finds a young Haruhi sneaking into East Junior High and assists her using the alias "John Smith". After helping her draw strange symbols on the school athletics grounds, Haruhi questions him on the existence of strange beings; Kyon suggests that they might exist because he knows someone like her at his school (referring to her future self). After Haruhi leaves, Kyon wakes up Mikuru and finds that she does not have her time traveling device, or TPDD. They go to see Yuki, who helps them return to their proper time. Kyon wonders if he was the one who inspired Haruhi to attend North High and start searching for strange beings.

The SOS Brigade's website has been created, but it is composed of little more than the club logo. Coincidentally, the SOS Brigade gets their first case after the website goes up — they are to find the missing Computer Research Society President. Upon going to his apartment, they find that he is not there, and nothing seems too out of the ordinary on the surface. After the Brigade leaves, the members, excluding Haruhi, return to the apartment where they find that Haruhi's SOS Brigade logo and a data organism are behind the disappearance.

A "distant relative" of Itsuki's allows the SOS Brigade, along with Kyon's sister, to stay at his newly built island villa. On their first day there, they enjoy the island's facilities, but are soon drawn inside by the arrival of a storm. While waiting for the storm to pass, Haruhi and her friends play games in doors and have fun together. Later, the owner of the villa disappears, and everyone starts searching for him. Ultimately, the SOS Brigade members find him dead in his room.

Haruhi and the SOS Brigade attempt to find clues to the villa owner's murder. Yutaka, the owner's younger brother, is initially suspect due to having been seen leaving the island the previous day before the storm hit. Haruhi and Kyon head outside during the storm, but find nothing. While drying off inside a cave, Haruhi comes to a startling conclusion about the murder. They return to the villa and set to devising a plan to solve the mystery. In the end, there never was a murder, for all was just a set-up.

Kyon's relaxing summer vacation is interrupted by a sudden phone call. It appears that Haruhi wants the SOS Brigade to join her in summer activities and unfortunately for Kyon, Haruhi has a long list of activities she wants to try out. As such, the group is taken on a whirlwind tour of summer activities, from swimming pools to summer festivals, part-time jobs, and bug hunting. Finally, having gone through Haruhi's entire list, the last day of August arrives. Though Kyon tries to make up for his lost time by doing his neglected summer homework, he eventually gives in to distraction and goes to bed without finishing it.

Like the previous episode, Kyon's easy going summer vacation is interrupted as the group is taken on a whirlwind tour of summer activities. However, Kyon is wracked by a sense of déjà vu. Itsuki is likewise troubled, while Yuki seems even more detached than usual. They finally figure out that Haruhi has put the last two weeks of August into an infinite loop because she refuses to let summer end. They find out that the loop has repeated 15,498 times, but none of them can devise anything to stop the cycle from repeating. Though the repeating cycle changed during the 2391 and 11054th times when the SOS Brigade did not attend the Bon Odori festival, 439 times when they did not go goldfish catching and 9025 times when they did various part time jobs, which is divided into six different jobs. Upon their last meeting in a restaurant on August 30, Kyon calls out after Haruhi in a last-ditch attempt to stop her from leaving, but fails to think of anything he can do, and she leaves. As the last day of vacation arrives, Kyon, resigned to the loop repeating itself, goes to bed without finishing his summer homework.

The same exact events in the previous episode once again unfold with slight variations and the gang wearing different clothes. Once again the Brigade, with the exception of Haruhi, finds out that they are trapped in an infinite loop. In this 15,499th loop, Kyon and the others once again are unable to discover how to escape the endless summer. In the same scene in the restaurant, Kyon is unable to stop Haruhi from leaving, hence dooming the world to another summer loop. Kyon again goes to sleep without finishing his homework on the last day of summer.

The previous time loop continues for the 15,513th time. This time, Kyon mentally senses an even greater familiarity with events and places from previous cycles. Once again, none of the Brigade members can devise anything to stop the cycle from repeating. On their final meeting in the restaurant, Kyon tries to call out after Haruhi but fails to do anything as visions of the loop's events flash in his mind. As Kyon regains his senses, Haruhi has left. As the last day of vacation arrives, Kyon, resigned to the loop repeating itself, goes to bed without finishing his summer homework.

The previous time loop continues for the 15,521st time. The scene prior to Haruhi's dismissal of group activities is repeated, showing the same event happening in this loop, and the next two loops. As the last day of vacation arrives, Kyon once again goes to bed without finishing his summer homework.

The previous time loop continues for the 15,524th time. Kyon rides his bike and approaches Yuki. In that moment, he speculates his reason for doing so and simply lets her leave without conversation. Kyon goes to bed without finishing his summer homework once again.

The loop continues for the 15,527th time. The scene where Kyon answers Haruhi's call loops twice, the scene in which Kyon notices Yuki at the pool loops twice, and the scene where Haruhi says she left the last day of summer open just in case also loops twice. Kyon once again goes to bed without finishing his summer homework.

The loop continues for the 15,532nd time, but as Haruhi leaves on August 30, Kyon beckons the SOS Brigade to finish their summer homework together, thus breaking the endless loop of summer. Irritated, Haruhi berates him, but decides to come anyway even though she has already finished her homework. Kyon wakes up on September 1 to embrace a new school term.

Upon the start of a new term, North High School is preparing for the annual school Culture Festival. Displeased with the class decision on a questionnaire, Haruhi tells Kyon that the SOS Brigade will do something more interesting. Influenced by a bad film the previous night, Haruhi commits the Brigade for a short independent film with Mikuru and Itsuki as the protagonists, Yuki as the villain, and Kyon doing 'menial tasks' including the filming. Kyon and Mikuru accompany Haruhi as she negotiates shop owners for materials, such as an expensive camcorder and airsoft guns for free upon willingness to sponsor the film.

Preparation for the SOS Brigade's short film continues, with character roles revealed. Mikuru is forced to dress in an embarrassing waitress costume for her role, while Yuki appears as a witch. On the first day of filming, the Brigade film the two commercials to advertise their sponsors, as shown in the episode "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00". They then film several scenes in a park, and Kyon points out that Haruhi did not actually write a script.

The SOS Brigade continue filming, though Haruhi is displeased with the battle sequence. Haruhi conjures the idea of the "Mikuru Beam" from her blue-contact lens on the left eye. With Haruhi's powers, the beam turns out to be real and fires dangerous invisible beams. Yuki protects Kyon from the laser shots before tackling Mikuru and removing the contact. While Haruhi changes Mikuru into a bunny girl outfit, the others discuss the situation. After filming for the remainder of the day, Haruhi leaves insisting on a tight filming schedule until the festival, including working on a Sunday. Yuki uses bite-injected nanomachines to counter Haruhi's effects on Mikuru. The next day, Mikuru shows some unwillingness to resume prompting Haruhi to pick her up. Also, Haruhi adds Taniguchi, Kunikida and Tsuruya to be extras in the film.

As the SOS Brigade continues filming, Haruhi tries to give Mikuru another contact lens, ergo another superpower. Yuki quickly takes action and injects her with more nanomachines before any serious damage could be done. After Mikuru is doused in a lake, Tsuruya offers her place as a movie scene. When Kyon notices Mikuru drugged up for a kiss scene with Itsuki, he gets furious about Haruhi's poor treatment of Mikuru and almost hits her, forcing Itsuki to stop him. As a result, Haruhi becomes depressed, since she always thought Kyon would support her. After hearing Taniguchi's rude comments, Kyon realizes he is no better and later talks to Haruhi and reinvigorates her. However, Haruhi becomes a little too encouraged as her powers bloom cherry blossoms out of season.

Deciding Yuki needs a familiar for her role, Haruhi picks up a stray cat and names it Shamisen. However, when Haruhi leaves that day, Shamisen starts talking as a result of Haruhi's powers. The other Brigade members meet up, where Itsuki suggests a reminder to Haruhi that her movie is a work of fiction, before reality incurs further damage. Later on, both Mikuru and Yuki share their independent views about Haruhi. As Haruhi's powers continue through filming, Itsuki calls out Kyon to hold back Haruhi's powers. Kyon accomplishes this by convincing Haruhi to add a disclaimer over the credits saying it is a work of fiction. After the filming, Kyon and Haruhi remain at the club room to do the editing. Kyon falls asleep while editing the movie, but wakes up the next day to find the movie had somehow completed itself whilst he was sleeping. The episode ends with a flashback to May, where Kyon tells Haruhi the truth about the other Brigade members, but she does not believe him.

The SOS Brigade previews their movie of questionable quality. In the movie, Mikuru Asahina stars as a time-travelling waitress from the future who must engage in fights with Yuki Nagato, who is playing as an alien-magician. Mikuru has sworn to protect a young man, played by Itsuki Koizumi, but a love-triangle ensues with both Mikuru and Yuki striving for Itsuki's affections. Kyon is the narrator of the movie, while Haruhi Suzumiya is the director. The production of this movie can be found in the episodes, "The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya".

On the day of the school's cultural festival, the members of the SOS Brigade are involved in different activities. Mikuru, along with Tsuruya, and their class open a fried noodles café, Yuki attempts fortune telling, and Itsuki is in a play. Kyon attempts to enjoy a normal day. Kyon goes to the auditorium, where bands are playing for the audience, and falls asleep. When he awakens, he sees Haruhi walking on stage in a bunny girl costume with a guitar hanging from her shoulders, which makes him surprised at the beginning.

Hoping to reclaim the computer Haruhi extorted from the Computer Research Society earlier in the year, the Computer Research Society President challenges the SOS Brigade to a computer game they created for the cultural festival entitled The Day of Sagittarius III. Haruhi accepts their challenge, but soon finds out that playing the game is much harder than she thought. Yuki is initially mystified by the computer's operation but catches on quickly, as she will tend to do. Eventually she manages to find out the guys from the Computer Society club are cheating and is able to block and use it against them, thus winning the game and some laptops for the SOS Brigade clubroom.

The skies are overcast with a chance of rain, and Haruhi instructs Kyon to go pick up a heater. With Kyon gone, Haruhi takes pictures of Mikuru in various costumes for the movie's DVD cover, Itsuki helps how he can, and Yuki is left alone to read. After Kyon returns, he finds only Yuki in the clubroom and decides to wait for the others, but falls asleep. When he awakens, he finds Haruhi alone with him, waiting for him to wake up so they can leave. It has already started raining, so Haruhi borrows an umbrella from school for them to use. When returning home, Kyon finds a more playful side to Haruhi and in the end, she pulls a playful tongue-out face.

The anime won the Animation Kobe Award for TV Feature in 2006. At the Sixth Annual Tokyo Anime Awards, the series won the category "Best TV Anime Series," along with Code Geass and Death Note. Furthermore, Aya Hirano won the "Voice Acting Award." She also was among the "Best Actress in a leading role" category from the first Seiyū Awards.